Ball-lapping machine



-J. MCINTYRE AND C. KOEHLER.

- ||919. 1,330,083. Patented Feb. 10,1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. MOINTYRE AND CHARLES KOEHLER, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

BALIQLAP ING necnm'n Application filed April 7, 1919. Serial No.288,409.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Joint J. McIN'rm' and CHARLES KOEHLER, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford andState of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement inBall-Lapping Machines, of

e which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to those machines which are provided forfinishing balls for bearings, and the like purposes, to final shape andsize, which machines are commonly termed ball lapping machines," althouh the invention is also applicable to grin ing machines which reducesuch balls to approximately final size.,

These machines generally have two plates arranged face to face withtheir opposing faces provided with equal numbers of complementarilyarranged concentric grooves, one plate being fixedly mounted and theother rotarily'mounted. The fixed plate is commonly made of cast ironand the rotary plate of cast iron if for lapping balls, or of abrasivematerial if for grinding balls. The balls are usually fed to theinnermostgroove between the opposing faces of the plates and they arepassed around and transferred from one groove to the other" so that eachball travels the same path as, and is subject to the same action asevery other ball, in order that all of the balls shall receiveidentically the same treatment and be reduced to exactly the same size.

The object of this invention is to simplify the construction and reducethe cost of manufacture of such machines, and increase their accuracy,thereby cheapening the output and insuring uniformity of the product.

This object is attained by arranging for the entrance of the ballsthrough the fixed plate to the innermost groove and providing for'thetransfer of balls from groove to groove outward by means of the rotatingplate, In such manner that the balls will travel around all of thegrooves without liability of wedging and clogging the machine, therebyinsuring a continuous outflow of balls of exactly the same size.

Figure '1. of the accompanying drawings shows a dia-metrical sectiontaken through two lapping plates of a machine constructed according tothis invention. Fig. 2 shows a face view of the fixed plate. Fig. 3shows a face view of the rotary plate. Flg. 4 shows an edge view of aportion of the fixed plate and the ball entrance-feed. Fig. 5 on alarger scale shows sections of portions of the fixed and rotary platesillustrating the manner of transferring the balls from one groove tothe'other. Fig. 6 shows a section through a ball transfer pocket of therotary plate, on the line 66 on Fig. 3.

The fixed plate l-is' usually made of cast iron in the form of anannular disk with a number of concentric grooves 2, the cross section ofeach of which grooves is nearly semi-circular. This rooved plate,-which, of course, can be ma e of other material if desired, isattachedto a backing plate 3 which is fixed inthe machine inthe usualway. The grooved plate has a feed tube 4: that enters downwardly at theback and communicates with the in-most groove. At the top the edgeofthis plate 1s cut away so as to open the outside groove to permit thedischarge of balls which have traveled active plates are arranged facetov face, ,gom-' plement each other and form the passageways for theballs. This plate 5 is attached to a backing plate 7 that is mounted inthe machine on an arbor so that it may be rotated at the required speed.In the grooved face of the rotary plate, opposite the end of the insidegroove and extending across to the next outer groove, is a pocket 8.Extending from the second groove to the third groove at another localityis a pocket 9, and arranged at various places so as to permitcommunication from an inner to the next outer'groove are similar pockets10. The walls of these pockets are arranged so that they incline fromthe inner wall of the inner groove to the inner wall of the next outergroove, as' illustrated in the views.

When the plates are arranged face toface and the rotar plate is set inmotion, balls which are fe through the fixed plate into the insidegroove are rolled around by the movement of the rotary plate, and as, of

course, thev advance along the groove at grooves are thrown off and bythe walls of the grooves and centrifugal force are directed into thenext outer grooves.

of the grooves, that is, every ball ,takes the same path as every otherball and is sub.- ject to the same action. Consequently, the grooveswear evenly and the balls are reduced, uniformly so that they come outat the space at the end of the outermost groove all exactly thesamesize. It is a simple matter to form these pockets in the rotary platefor transferring the balls .from one groove tion of a fixed plate witha-series of con-' centric grooves, and a rotary plate with a series ofconcentric grooves that at one 10- cality in each groove are closed by awall, said plates being arranged with their grooved faces opposing eachother, and said As a rev sult of this all of the balls travel throughall rotary plate having pockets in front ofsaid closing walls fortransferring balls from each inner to each outer groove.

2. In a ball sizing machine the combination of a fixed plate with aseries of concentric grooves, a rotary plate with a series of concentricgrooves that at one locality in outwardly inclining walls a jacent tosaid closing walls for transferring balls from each inner to each outergroove.

3. In a ball sizing machine the combination of a fixed plate having aseries of con centric grooves and a ball feed opening, and a rotaryplate having a series of concentric grooves formed at differentlocalities, said pockets having inclined walls closing each inner grooveand leading from each inne to each outer groove.

' JOHN J. MeINTYRE.

CHARLES KOEHLER.

rooves and pockets of a width of two-

